Date of Award

2020

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Nursing

Abstract

Introduction: Although Arab Americans represent one of the fastest-growing populations in the U.S., there is very little health data about their preventive health habits and health-promoting lifestyle, including cancer screening. Purpose: the purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between personal factors, health-promoting behaviors, and cancer-screening behaviors of Arab Americans while controlling for acculturation. Design: Pender's Health Promotion Model was the conceptual framework for the study. a cross-sectional correlational design explored the relationship between the study variables utilizing an online-based survey to collect data from Arab Americans. Multimodal recruitment was used to recruit a convenience sample of 287 Arab Americans age 21 and older. Participants completed self-report questionnaires consisting of personal characteristics, acculturation, health-promoting lifestyle, and gender-specific cancer screening uptake and intention to screen for cancer. the survey was offered in both languages: Arabic and English. the instruments used to collect the data were the Health Promotion Lifestyle Profile (HPLP) scale, cancer screening behavior subscale, intention to screen subscale, and a questionnaire of personal factors which included questions about demographic and health habits. Results: More Arab American females (58.5%) participated in the study than males (41.5%). the majority of the participants were age 33-39 (50.9%), married (56.1%), Muslim (80.8%), college graduate (40.8%), employed (47%), and originally from Libya (32%). About 84.7% had access to care, and the majority performed positive health habits and had low personal and family (19.9%) history of cancer. in terms of acculturation, the majority of the participant were proficient in English (94.1%) and had been in the U.S. for more than five years (73.9%). Overall, the sample performed positive health-promoting behaviors. Participants scored medium to low in intention to screen for breast cancer (BC) (M = 18.5, SD = 4.5), cervical cancer (M = 17.4, SD = 5.2), colorectal cancer (CRC) (M = 14.9, SD = 5.0), lung cancer (M = 13.7, SD = 4.5), and prostate cancer (M = 13.8, SD = 5.6). Female participants reported receiving cancer screening for BC (45.1%) and cervical cancer (69%). Male participants reported receiving prostate cancer (36.9%), and consultation for prostate cancer (36.1%). Both males and females reported receiving CRC (28.9%) and lung cancer (33.6%). Health-promoting behaviors partially predict cancer-screening behaviors. Implications: the study contributes to the body of nursing knowledge regarding the relationship between health-promoting behaviors and cancer-screening behaviors. Primary healthcare practitioners should encourage Arab Americans to continue to adhere to health-promoting behaviors, which may ultimately influence their cancer-screening behaviors. Cancer screening programs serving Arab Americans are encouraged to address cancer screening in the context of health-promoting behaviors to help decrease risk factors and increase adherence to positive health behaviors.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

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